Where do we begin? Breaking Energy featured the Russian energy business in a recent Quote of the Day and it’s not that we’re picking on the country, but the murky world of Kremlin insiders – many former KGB personnel – running oil and gas companies with shares listed on public exchanges is nothing short of fascinating.
The latest bizarre tale again features Igor Sechin – head of Rosneft and close Putin ally – who is now accused of corporate misconduct regarding Rosneft’s takeover of TNK-BP, which made it the largest “public” oil company in terms of reserves and production.
“Rosneft acquired a 95 percent stake in TNK-BP Holding in March with the purchase of the oil company TNK-BP Limited, but then refused to buy out minority shareholders and denied them dividends from the previous year.
Sechin famously said: “All the money is ours” when the negotiations over TNK-BP Limited went public in October 2012.”
And get this, the complaint launched by Rosneft minority shareholder Gennady Osorgin, accuses Sechin of violating the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs’ Charter on Corporate and Business Ethics.
Now for the best part, “As a member of RSPP, Sechin could potentially refuse to review the complaint,” the article says.
Wow. You may want to hold off on investing in Russian oil companies for the time being.
